Kite Flight
by Measured
Summary: Mist and Ike attempt to teach their new companion how to play - the key word here is ‘attempt.’ Childhood fic, Ike, Soren and Mist gen.


Title: Kite Flight  
Series: Fire Emblem 9 precanon  
Character/Pairing: Ike, Soren, Mist. Childhood gen.  
Rating: Incredibly G  
Summary: Mist and Ike attempt to teach their new companion how to play - the key word here is 'attempt.' Childhood fic, Ike, Soren and Mist gen  
Author's Note: comment_fic: author's choice, What are we going to do? / 64damn_prompts: 13. we all float on

inspired by excessive listening to "Kite Song" by Rosie Thomas, which is beautiful, yet has little in common with this fic save for they both feature kites. Soren and Ike are about nine in this fic, Mist is about five-to-six and Soren is fairly new to the group, being there for just a little over a year. Yay, gen.

**.**

The day had started bright and remained so. Mist sang as she hung up laundry, some spilling over her tiny frame and dragging on the ground behind her. It was hard to focus on something boring like _laundry_ when there was so many pretty flowers to be picked and sunshine to frolic in.

Titania came out with yet another basket of clothes, these especially big. Mist looked crestfallen.

"More? I thought I was almost done!"

Titania chuckled despite herself. "I'll finish up. Go and be a good girl and play."

"Ok!" she chirped.

Ike was off in the front, poking things with sticks. He was currently in a stage where most everything had to be poked with sticks, except for maybe Shinon and Soren. Not wishing to be poked, she slipped inside to the library instead where she knew Soren would be.

Soren was weird. Really weird, in fact. Beyond his deep red eyes, his angular, pale face that always seemed to be frowning, there were so many other weird things. He rarely left his books, didn't like sweets, and drank green tea, just like an adult. Mist was sure that he wasn't much older than her brother, yet he seemed so much _older_ He was so wise for his age, and she'd never seen him play. He was like a little old man stuck in the body of a little boy.

Sometimes she would sneak up into the library and peek in on Soren as he read for hours and filled out paperwork. She loved books with big shiny pictures like Titania would read to her at night, but Soren could even read the big books, ones with difficult words that were so heavy, even he had difficulties lifting them. He always looked so harsh and focused, but when Ike called him away, the frowns would smooth out into something else, something serene.

Mist always thought that she'd like to know someone like that, have someone who could calm her in a single word. Or maybe she'd be the calmer, the one who brightened someone with just a touch or a smile.

Rhys said that everyone had traces of healing in them even without staves. Mist wanted to be like that, she wanted to heal people and be healed too.

So it was that she set out to make Soren something. He was never interested in playing swords, and the one time Ike had attempted to play catch with Soren once, throwing a ball and yelling "catch!".

The ball had hit Soren squarely in the jaw, quite hard. Hard enough to knock him over, leaving him sore and bewildered. For the rest of the week Soren had a large bruise across his face.

He had apparently forgiven Ike for the incident, but that didn't make him any more likely to play tag. But a kite, now there's something he might get into. No one could frown while flying a kite – she'd even seen Shinon smile while flying a kite – though that might have been because he'd stolen Ike's kite.

She worked very hard, making material and bending and tying the sticks together. She even tied some of her hair ribbons to the tail. She borrowed the extra clothesline for string. No one would miss it for a little while, right?

It only took a few hours, but when she was finished she felt proud of herself...even if it didn't really look like the kites they bought. When she went to go find him, she looked in the library, of course, but for once he wasn't there. She finally found him outside Ike poke things. She went right up behind him, the kite behind her and nudged his shoulder.

Soren turned around. He looked grim as always, even a bit wary.

"What?"

She brought the kite from behind her back – even though it stuck out and hadn't been hidden very well.

"It's for you! I made it all by myself"

Soren stared.

"Don't you like it?"

"...what is it?" Soren asked.

"It's a kite, silly! Everyone likes kites!"

Soren seemed to weigh it, turning it over turn it every which way, he looked utterly perplexed.

"..what is it used for?"

She giggled. "Here, I'll show you~!"

With that she took off running. The kite dangled behind her, heavy, and dragging more than flying, though it almost got up in the air – right until it went crashing into that rock she didn't see. She looked down at the kite she had made, all broken and ruined now. It'd never even gotten a proper flight.

She tried hard to be a big girl and not cry, but tears threatened to spill over even as she scrunched her face to keep them in. She had worked so _hard_ on it.

At the sound of her sobs, Ike came running from the anthill he was poking.

"Mist, what's wrong?"

"I made Soren a kite and worked so hard on it and it broooooooke," she wailed.

Soren bent to pick up the kite, which had broken into many parts.

"It seems to be a rather complex structure, but it shouldn't be impossible to fix. The material you used was all wrong, and the branches weren't flexible enough...willow would be a better choice."

"Yeah Mist, let Soren do it. He's good at things like that. He'll help you fix it better than ever."

"And we'll all work together and have lots of fun with it?" Mist sniffled.

"With Soren working on it, it'll be the best kite ever."

Mist smiled again and wiped away her tears. "What are we going to do? Where do we start first?"

"First we should go harvest some willow, and then purchase a yard of better material, and then..."


End file.
